This is 6th in a series that examines the state of Buffalo’s highways, what the future holds, and ideas and precedent for change.
As we move further into the 21st century cities of all types and sizes including Buffalo are reexamining their continued commitment to highways that slice through the urban fabric tearing apart valuable neighborhoods. Recent articles in this series have shown precedent for highway removal and modification in Seattle and San Francisco. These are both big flashy high growth places with a lot of political clout and money. Some would say that cities like this are in another league from Buffalo and hold few lessons for this poor down to earth city. Can Buffalo realistically expect to reclaim its urban core by removing destructive highway systems? Can Buffalo muster the clout to eliminate such a seemingly immoveable object as our beloved highways? Milwaukee Wisconsin, a Great Lakes city very similar to Buffalo has done just that. Strong and visionary leadership enabled this city to remove a major section of downtown highway adding tremendous new value to a large portion of Milwaukeeis core.
In 2002 demolition of the nearly mile long elevated Park East Freeway was begun. Reconstruction of a new street level boulevard called McKinley Avenue was completed in 2004 unleashing tremendous new growth and development potential at the Northern edge of Downtown. The new parkway includes trees and flowerbeds in its median and with granite pavers and more trees between the roadway and the sidewalks. The formerly icut offi city street grid has been knit back together creating approximately 28 new city blocks in the 64 acre development area. The city anticipates $250 Million in immediate new private development due to removal of the hulking highway. The city took the project even further by setting up design guidelines for the highway redevelopment area that provide for pedestrian friendly urban development. New buildings will be built densely and close to the street with large windows and mixed uses. The complex process of making the project real took five years form inception to approval of a plan.
The cost of demolishing the freeway, constructing the boulevard, and building a new river crossing was estimated at $40 million. The federal ISTEA transportation program paid for most of the project. County and State governments also chipped in. The cityis portion was covered through use of a tax-increment financing (TIF) district in the redevelopment area. The increase in taxable land is expected to easily pay for the project.
How was Milwaukee able to achieve this major break through? By simple determination and foresight. Two people in particular can be credited with accomplishing such a Herculean task, Peter J. Park, former planning director and former mayor John Norquist.
Peter Park is widely admired and credited with making Milwaukee a national model for urban planning and a leader in rebuilding a city battered by highways, poor planning and suburbanization. He has encouraged a reinvigoration of the local design community and creating an environment that embraces progressive contemporary city friendly architecture.
“Peter did the fine-grain detail work that made it all possible,” says the mayor, who credits Park more broadly with giving him the technical tools to fight off pavement-happy engineers and bottom-line development schemes.
Norquist was first elected Mayor of Milwaukee in 1988. He is well known as a leader in the fight to re-humanize our cities. He is a founding member of the Congress for New Urbanism and currently serves as its director. He is described as an independent minded Democrat. He also authored “The Wealth of Cities” and has taught courses in urban planning and development at the University of Chicago, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Architecture and Marquette University.
Norquist has noted that it would have cost $100 Million to rebuild the 30 year old Park East Freeway. To him it was illogical to spend so much money to maintain a failed transportation system, a system that actually harmed the area that it purported to serve. Why not spend less than half to rebuild the city instead. This logic was not so apparent to those who held to an old way of thinking. It took determination and persistence on the part of Norquist and his staff to make their logical vision of the city happen. It was not easy but they have proven that it is possible.
Milwaukee is now a leader in a new way of thinking that puts the people of the city first. Buffalo can join a growing list of cities that believes that these highways are not necessary. Milwaukee has proven that a city very similar to Buffalo can make bold moves such as this. Cost should not be a factor.
Milwaukee has shown that the cost of removing highways is less than continual maintenance. They have shown that elimination of these neighborhood-killing dinosaurs actually adds value back into the city and they have shown that highway removal actually eases congestion by giving drivers more options. With intelligent, determined and visionary leadership such as that exhibited by John Norquist Buffalo to can accomplish what Milwaukee has. There is no other roadblock.
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